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Egyptian MP Rejects US Criticism of Cairo’s Dealing with Damascus

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad during their press conference in Damascus. (Reuters)
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad during their press conference in Damascus. (Reuters)
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Egyptian MP Rejects US Criticism of Cairo’s Dealing with Damascus

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad during their press conference in Damascus. (Reuters)
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad during their press conference in Damascus. (Reuters)

Egyptian MP Mustafa Bakri has rejected the criticism made by the US Department of State over Cairo’s dealing with the Syrian regime, against the backdrop of Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry’s solidarity visit to Damascus.

Bakri described the demands by Congress members to impose sanctions on the countries that normalize ties with Syria as “nauseous” and “a blatant intervention in the region’s affairs”.

The MP stressed that no party has the right to impose its agenda on Egypt, saying “Syria is an Arab country and Egypt is the beating heart of the Arab world”.

“Our position on the Assad regime has not changed. Now is not the time for normalization. Now is not the time to upgrade relations with the Assad regime,” according to US State Department spokesperson Ned Price.

“Again, the statement that I saw from the foreign minister spoke to this as a humanitarian gesture. Our position on this has been longstanding. We do not believe that it is the time to upgrade or to normalize relations with the Assad regime," Price said in a press briefing this week.

"The goal of the visit is primarily humanitarian, and to pass on our solidarity," Shoukry told reporters during his visit to Damascus on Monday.

Shoukry did not respond to reporters' questions on the possibility of normalizing ties with Syria.

Following the Feb. 6 quake, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi spoke with Syrian President Bashar Assad. Egypt also dispatched rescue teams to Syria.

Moreover, some Egyptian institutions started gathering donations to support the Syrians.

Egypt's parliament speaker Hanafi Jabali was on a visit to Syria a day before Shoukry visited. “Syria will return to its normal position in the Arab League,” he said at the airport.

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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)

Italy plans to send an ambassador back to Syria after a decade-long absence, the country’s foreign minister said, in a diplomatic move that could spark divisions among European Union allies.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, speaking in front of relevant parliamentary committees Thursday, announced Rome’s intention to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria to prevent Russia from monopolizing diplomatic efforts in the Middle Eastern country.

Moscow is considered a key supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has remained in power despite widespread Western isolation and civilian casualties since the start of Syria’s civil war in March 2011.

Peaceful protests against the Assad government — part of the so-called “Arab Spring” popular uprisings that spread across some of the Middle East — were met by a brutal crackdown, and the uprising quickly spiraled into a full-blown civil war.

The conflict was further complicated by the intervention of foreign forces on all sides and a rising militancy, first by al-Qaida-linked groups and then the ISIS group until its defeat on the battlefield in 2019.

The war, which has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million, is now largely frozen, despite ongoing low-level fighting.

The country is effectively carved up into areas controlled by the Damascus-based government of Assad, various opposition groups and Syrian Kurdish forces.

In the early days of the conflict, many Western and Arab countries cut off relations with Syria, including Italy, which has since managed Syria-related diplomacy through its embassy in Beirut.

However, since Assad has regained control over most of the territory, neighboring Arab countries have gradually restored relations, with the most symbolically significant move coming last year when Syria was re-admitted to the Arab League.

Tajani said Thursday the EU’s policy in Syria should be adapted to the “development of the situation,” adding that Italy has received support from Austria, Croatia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus and Slovakia.

However, the US and allied countries in Europe have largely continued to hold firm in their stance against Assad’s government, due to concerns over human rights violations.